Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Politics

Michigan Is About to Have the Best Climate Policies of Any Battleground State

Governor Gretchen Whitmer is set to sign a package of ambitious decarbonization laws.

Gretchen Whitmer.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Michigan looks likely to pass an aggressive package of climate laws this week, as the state’s Democrats are set to capitalize on their first governing trifecta in nearly four decades.

The climate laws would require that 100% of Michigan’s electricity come from carbon-free sources by 2040, putting the state on par with the fastest state-level decarbonization deadlines nationwide. New York, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Oregon also aim to achieve zero-carbon electricity by 2040.

The bills would also open a new Just Transition Office within the Michigan Department of Labor and strengthen the state’s energy-efficiency and utility laws.

While other states have passed aggressive climate legislation, none of them are as politically contested — or quite as central to national politics — as Michigan.

“What’s really exciting is that this is probably the most purple state we’ve seen with a bold climate package on the cusp of the finish line,” Courtney Bourgoin, a senior policy manager for Evergreen Action, a climate advocacy group, told me.

“It’s going to be significant. This is a very pragmatic plan, but it builds off a strong foundation that we have in Michigan,” state Senator Sam Singh, who introduced one of the bills, told me. “It also positions us well to pull down the federal dollars that are available for this transition.”

Michigan’s Democrats are enjoying their first statehouse majority in nearly four decades. They have already repealed the state’s anti-union “right to work” laws and passed new LGBT protections.

The suite of four climate laws passed the state House of Representatives last week and is expected to go to the state Senate for a final vote in the next few days. The Senate already approved an earlier version of the legislation.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer is expected to sign the laws after passage. In August, Garlin Gilchrist, the state’s lieutenant governor, suggested in a speech that Whitmer supported the laws. Whitmer’s MI Healthy Climate Plan initially proposed zeroing out carbon pollution from the power sector by 2050, not 2040.

“The climate crisis is urgent,” Gilchrist said at the time. “We need to act now. We need to act legislatively. We need to act administratively.”

Here’s what the four proposed laws would do:

The first law sets a new, 100% clean-energy target by 2040. It also rewrites the state’s existing renewable portfolio standard to require that 60% of the state’s electricity come from wind, solar, or another renewable source by 2034. (The remaining 40% of electricity could come from nuclear power or natural gas with carbon capture.)

The second law sets new energy efficiency requirements for the state’s power and gas utilities. For the first time, utilities must spend at least 25% of their efficiency funds on low-income communities.

The law also encourages utilities to electrify people’s homes in the state by installing induction stoves or heat pumps. That’s particularly important because Michigan ranks among the top five states for use of home-heating oil.

A third law will allow the state’s public service commission, which regulates utilities, to consider climate and reliability questions while planning the state’s electricity grid.

The final law establishes a new Just Transition Office within the state’s labor and economic-development office that will advise the government about how best to retrain and help workers and communities who are hurt by decarbonization.

The office, for instance, could help connect “internal combustion engine vehicle workers” with retraining opportunities, counseling, skills matching, and potentially ways to replace their lost income. Most of its work would come from proposing new state programs, writing “transition plans” for various industries, or identifying federal funding. (My sense is that the office would be as effective and useful as the person directing it.)

“We’re going to be working with industry and workers concurrently,” Singh said. “I’m excited because we ensured that equity is part of the conversation as well as making sure we put strong labor requirements in as well.”

Another pair of proposals would let renewable-energy developers apply to the state’s public service commission for permission to build a project instead of going through a local zoning board. Michigan has highly restrictive local-level zoning rules on building new solar and wind, Sarah Mills, a University of Michigan researcher, told me.

While those proposals have passed the House, their fate in the Senate is less certain. The state’s fall legislative session ends on Friday.

Blue

You’re out of free articles.

Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Economy

Trump’s Tariff Threats Will Soon Be Tested

What he wants them to do is one thing. What they’ll actually do is far less certain.

Donald Trump.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Donald Trump believes that tariffs have almost magical power to bring prosperity; as he said last month, “To me, the world’s most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariffs. It’s my favorite word.” In case anyone doubted his sincerity, before Thanksgiving he announced his intention to impose 25% tariffs on everything coming from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on all Chinese goods.

This is just the beginning. If the trade war he launched in his first term was haphazard and accomplished very little except costing Americans money, in his second term he plans to go much further. And the effects of these on clean energy and climate change will be anything but straightforward.

Keep reading...Show less
Blue
Electric Vehicles

The New Electric Cars Are Boring, and That’s Okay

Give the people what they want — big, family-friendly EVs.

Boredom and EVs.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images, Apple

The star of this year’s Los Angeles Auto Show was the Hyundai Ioniq 9, a rounded-off colossus of an EV that puts Hyundai’s signature EV styling on a three-row SUV cavernous enough to carry seven.

I was reminded of two years ago, when Hyundai stole the L.A. show with a different EV: The reveal of Ioniq 6, its “streamliner” aerodynamic sedan that looked like nothing else on the market. By comparison, Ioniq 9 is a little more banal. It’s a crucial vehicle that will occupy the large end of Hyundai's excellent and growing lineup of electric cars, and one that may sell in impressive numbers to large families that want to go electric. Even with all the sleek touches, though, it’s not quite interesting. But it is big, and at this moment in electric vehicles, big is what’s in.

Keep reading...Show less
Green
Climate

AM Briefing: Hurricane Season Winds Down

On storm damages, EV tax credits, and Black Friday

The Huge Economic Toll of the 2024 Hurricane Season
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: Parts of southwest France that were freezing last week are now experiencing record high temperatures • Forecasters are monitoring a storm system that could become Australia’s first named tropical cyclone of this season • The Colorado Rockies could get several feet of snow today and tomorrow.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Damages from 2024 hurricane season estimated at $500 billion

This year’s Atlantic hurricane season caused an estimated $500 billion in damage and economic losses, according to AccuWeather. “For perspective, this would equate to nearly 2% of the nation’s gross domestic product,” said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter. The figure accounts for long-term economic impacts including job losses, medical costs, drops in tourism, and recovery expenses. “The combination of extremely warm water temperatures, a shift toward a La Niña pattern and favorable conditions for development created the perfect storm for what AccuWeather experts called ‘a supercharged hurricane season,’” said AccuWeather lead hurricane expert Alex DaSilva. “This was an exceptionally powerful and destructive year for hurricanes in America, despite an unusual and historic lull during the climatological peak of the season.”

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow